Partially-stiffened shoe-sole



H. C. EGERTON.

PARTIALLY STIFFENED SHOE SOLE.

APPLICATION FILED oc.24, Isla.

1,352,737. Pandsept.14,192o.

UNITED- STATES PATENT ol-Fica HENRY C. EGERTON, 0F RIDGEWOOD, NEW JERSEY.

PABTIALLY-STIFFEN ED SHOE-SOLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented sept. 14,1920.

Application led December 24, 1918. Serial No. A$268,157.

This invention relates especially to par-y tially stiened shoe soles of the general type covered by the Egerton Patent 1,282,399, of October 22, 1918, in which the stiiener members extend suiiiciently under the front or bod portion of the shoe sole to-resiliently sti en and protect the ball of the foot and other portions where the shoe sole engages the ground in ordinary walking, while the shank portion of the shoe sole is left in relatively unstiii'ened condition, so that it can readily retain such bent or curved shape as is necessary to fit the shank of the shoe beneath the instep. The

stil'ener members used for this purpose may' comprise any desired suitable form of fabric or fibrous material, such as canvas, cotton or other cloth, fibrous sheets including paper pulp or the like, suitably coated or impregnated with phenolic condensation cementing stiiening material, in any de sired way. `IA number of superimposed sheets of canvas impregnated with such dried phenolic condensation cementing material may be used to stillen the front or body portion of the shoe sole and may be conveniently united thereto by a rubberized connector, such as a canvas or cloth layer previously frictioned or otherwise rubber coated on the side adjacent the composition sole which may be formed of any suitable rubber composition, and if desired be provided with any suitable form of heel. By having these special stiffener layers stop adjacent the shank portion of the shoe sole and preferably successively reduce their stiffness and strength as this point is approached so as to gradually lessen the stiffness and strength of this. stiil'ening material, the shank and heel portion, if desired, may be left in substantially unstiiened condition when the rubber composition and other parts are vulcanized and cured together so that while the shoe sole may be conveniently molded drawing, which forms a with any desired form of last so that the shank and heel may b e arched or bent upward to the extent desired to support the instep of the foot.

nthe accompanying drawing showing in a somewhat diagrammatic way varlous ,illustrative embodiments of the invention.

Figure 1 is a top view of a shoe sole.

Fig. 2 is a corresponding sectional View 1n which the parts are shown in separated position for greater -clearnesa -Fig. 3 is a corresponding section showing the finished shoe sole after these elements are united. f

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal' section through another form of shoe sole; and

Figs. 5 and 6 are longitudinal sections showing still another construction.

The rubber shoe sole composition 1 may, if desired, be previously molded and profiled so ythat the thinner shank portion 2 and heel portion 3 where 1 is used may be joined by the beveled portion 20 with the thicker front or body portion of the shoe sole. If desired, the shoe sole around this front body portion may be formed with a special stitching retainer memberv in the or both sides and molded into and preferably completed embedded in the rubbercomposition blank before `it is vulcanized and the other parts united thereto. A plurality of suitable stiiener members or strips, such as 7, 8,9, maybe suitably united in any desired way to the front or' body portion of the shoe sole and as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2 the stiii'ener strips or members may have their' rear edges 17, 18, 19, located adjacent the shank portion of the shoe sole and preferably sucessively lend on some such diagonal lines as indicated in Fig. 1 so 'as to be arranged in lapping position and progressively decrease the stili'ness of the finished sole at this point and allow the shank portion .of the sole to bend with relatively` little resistance. For some purposes it is also desirable to have the stiener gradually decrease in strength toward the extreme front or toe portion and ifklesired the stiffener members may have their front ends in generally similar stepped or lapping position so as to allow for the more ready bending of the toe which is desirable to minimize local wear in some cases. As indicated some of these stifener members or strips, such as 17, may be of relatively less lateral width also, so that as shown in ig. 1 their edges 27 are farther inward than the larger and lo r strips having the` edge portions 29 anleit is of course understood that for some purposes a greater or lessy number of strips may be used to secure special stiifem'ng action in some cases and also that with specially heavy fabric or librous layers a le stiifening strip or member may be used or some purposes preferably after being coated or thoroughly impregnated with the phenolic condensation cementing material to the desired extent;

A convenient and effective way to unite the stifener members to the rubber composition forming the wearing surface of the sole is to interpose a fabric connector such as the canvas or cloth strip 5 preferably having a frictioned or other rubber coating 6 thereon on the side with which the rubber sole engages while the other side of this connector may be coated with phenolic con` densation cementing material, such as bakelite or condensite varnish, for instance. In

some cases, however, the coated or impregnated stilfener `members supply sufficient cementing material when the parts are heated and cured under pressure in a suitable mold so as to secure in position this connector layer which may sometimes extend more or less throughout the shank and heel portions of the sole as indicated in Figs.v 2 and 3. It is sometimes desirable to have a rubberized facing member, such as 10, extending over part or all of the shoe sole and when as indicated this facing member has a frictioned or other rubber coating 6 on its exposed surface the completed shoe sole has a sufficient rubber coating on this side so that the ordinary rubber cements may be used therewith. f desired also in some cases an additional rubberized fabric layer 11 may be used below the connector adjacent the shank and heel portions of the sole and this canvas or other fabric may advantageously be frictioned or rubberized -on both surfaces to more securel unite it with -the cooperating elem'ents. All of these parts ma of course, be assembled in a suitable mo d and heated under pressure to the desired vulcanizing curin heats so that the previously dried pheno c condensation cementing material is cured and the rubber sole composition simultaneously vulcanized and all the parts securely united together to form an integral shoe sole such as indicated in Fig. 3 in which the front or body portion 1 is stiened to the desired extent and normally resiliently returns to its original flat form which is desirable for most purposes. At the same time the shankportion 2 may be readily bent or arched up to the extent necessary to secure it to the insole and shoe u er in resolin 'or in ori 'nall makinv tl?? shoe and the? sole shankglis rgradily re: tained in this arched up position, especially where little or no fabric is united to this part of the sole, so that, if desired, the shoe sole may be vulcanized and cured in the substantially flat condition indicated which also facilitates packing and shipping to some extent as well as making it unnecessary to' have a number of different styles or shapes of arched up shank ortions as might be necessary if special stiffness or rigidity was given to this part of the sole.

ln the form of sole shown in Fig. 4 the rubber or other composition wearing surface 1 may be tapered olf at the point 2O into the much thinner shank portion -2 to which, if desired a heel portion 3 may be secured. The stiiiener member is illustrated in this case as comprising two layers of paper, fabric or otherlibrous material, such, for instance, as two heavy canvas layers 7 8, which are preferably'thoroughly impregnated with phenolic condensation cementing material and dried before being assembled so that their rear-edges 17, 18 at least are in overlapping position adjacent the shank portion of the sole. In this case alsol a suitable fabric connector layer, such as 26, ma be used to facilitate the union of these 95 sti ener la ers to the composition sole and where a ru ber composition is used the frictioned or other rubberized coating 6 may advantageously be first applied to this connector on its under surface so that all the 100 parts may be cured, vulcanized and sim'ultaneously united in the usual pressure mold employed. Thus the front or bodyportion of the one-piece rubber sole is strongly reinforced by this still' and tough resilient ma- 105 terial, so that it has about the same stiif' ness to bending and denting as high grade leather, while the thinner shank portion 2 has a much more yielding character and 'readily conforms to the stifened shank' of 110 the shoe to which it is attached especially since it is advantageous to have the rubber composition of a relatively pure high grade to secure improved wearing and non-slippiig action. l i

ig. 5 shows another form of shoe sole especially adapted for repair work in which no heel portion is provided, the rear edge or portion of this sole having its rubber e1ev ment beveled olf at 4 so that the one or more 120 layers of fabric 21 which may be used are thus exposed and can be more readily united to the cooperating heel portions of the shoe. In this case two canvas or other fabric or fibrous stilener layers-14, 15, are shown as 125 making up the sti'ener member and the upper layer 15 may have its rear edge terminate at about the point 16 while its front stifened edge portion which to a greater extent facilitates the trimming or shaping of the shoe sole so that a single size can -be used for a greater range of work. The

other stifl'ener layer 14 maybe, if desired, of relatively smaller area and these stiffener strips may be united to the rubber composition sole by a connector fabric layer or member 5 having the rubberized face 6 to romote the vulcanizing union with the ruber composition below. If desired inthis case also this. connector may extend over the shank portion of the sole and in some cases also an additional rubberized fabric layer 11 may be used in the shank and may have both its faces previously provided wit a frictioned or other rubber coating to unite with the adjacent elements during the curing of the parts in the pressure molding operation. It is of course understood that the relatively yielding Shanks of any of these types of illustrative soles may be used with or secured to the shank portions of shoes which have been stifened in any suitable way to the extent desired. It is sometimes desirable to use a separate special arched up shank stiffener of fabric stiffened with such cured phenolic condensation cementin material and having a relatively thick an strong central portion while the edges are preferably thinner or more penetrable to facilitate sewing or nailing between the shoe insole and the sole.

Fig. 6 shows this type of construction, the rubber or other composition sole 1 having, if desired, a shank portion 2 and heel portion 3 and having a suitable stiilener element comprising fabric or other fibrous layers or strips 30, 31 carrying or impregnated with henolic condensation cementing material. he connector 5 having, if desired, the rubberized lower surface 6 may be interposed between these stiener members or strips and the rubber sole to facilitate their union when the parts are heated under pressure to cure and solidify the cementing material used. For some purposes it is desirable to form alining or gripping means such as'a recess in the sole to facilitate connection or location of the separate shank or other stiilener. with reference thereto. This may be conveniently done by curing the tip 31 of one or"more of the stii'ener layers in raised or separated position somewhat away from the other material so as to form a gripping alining recess v such stifening fabric 38, 39, 40 are shown in this instance and the stiifener may as indicated have a reduced lower edge 36 adapted to coperate with the gripping recess when the parts are assembled and stitched or nailed to a shoe, the shank and heel portions of the sole being under these conditions bent up into the dotted position indicated. This reduced end 36 and also the lateral portions 'of this shank stiffener may, if desired, be softer and more penetrable because containing less of the stifl'ening cementing material, if desired. This invention has been described i-n connection with a number of illustrative embodiments, forms, proportions, elements, parts, shapes, materials, compositions, methods of preparation, production and use, to

the details of which disclosure the invention is not of course to be limited, since what is claimed as new and what is desired to be secured by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims:

l. The one-piece rubber shoe sole com-- prising a yulcanized rubber wearing surface and having its front body portion stiffened and strengthened by a fibrous stiffener member comprising a plurality of layers of fabric impregnated with cured phenolic condensation cementing material, the rear edges of said fabric layers being arranged in diagonally lapping position adjacent the shank ortion of the shoe sole to allow the rea y yielding and flexure of said shank portion, a rubberized fabric connector layer between 'said rubber tread portion and said stifener member to more securely lunite them and a rubberized Y facing member secured on the stilened side of said shoe sole, said rubber tread portion being provided with an embedded fabric stitching retainer with which the attaching stitching is adapted to engage.

2. The one-piece rubber shoe sole comprising a vulcanized rubber wearing surface vand having its front bod portion stfened and strengthened by a i rous stiftener member comprising fabric impregnated with cured phenolic condensation cementing material, the rear edge of said fabric being arranged in diagonal positionl adjacent the shank portion o the 'shoe sole to allow the ready yieldingand 'lexure of said shank portion, and a rubberized fabric connectorv layer between said rubber tread portion and said stili'ener member to more securely unite them.

3. -The one-piece rubber shoe sole comprising a vulcanized rubber composition wearing surface and having its front body portion stiffened and strengthened by a stiffener member comprising a plurality of layers of fabric carrying and impregnated with cured phenolic condensation cementing material, the rear edges of said fabric layers being arranged in diagonally lapping -ing a plurality of layers-of fabric carrying cured phenolic condensation cementing material, the rear edges of said fabric layers being arranged in lapping position adjacent the shank portion of the shoe sole to allow the ready yielding of said shank portion, and a. fabric connector layer between said rubber tread portion and said stiffe'ner member to more securely unite them.

5. The one-piece rubber shoe sole comprising a vulcanized rubber composition wearing surface and having its front body portion stiffened and strengthened by a stiffener member comprising fabric carrying cured phenolic condensatlon cementing material, the rear edge of said fabric being adjacent the shank portion of the shoe sole to allow the ready yielding of said shank portion and a fabric connector layer between said rubber tread portion and said stiffener member to more securely unite them.

6. The one-piece shoe sole comprising a vulcanized rubber compositionvwearing surfacephaving readily yielding shank portions and having its front body stiffened andv strengthened by a connected fibrous stiffener member comprising a plurality of layers of fabric carrying cured phenolic-condensation cementing material, said fabric layers having rear portions formed adjacent the shank portion of the shoe sole with an 'external isajrav alining recess for a cooperating stiffener member.

7. The shoe sole comprising a composition wearing surface and having its front body portion stiff'ened and strengthened by a connected fibrous stiffener member comprising a plurality of layers of fabric carrying cured phenolic condensation cementing material,

said fabric layers having rear portions arranged in lapping position adjacent the shank portion of the shoe sole to make said shank portion relatively yielding.

8. ri`he shoe sole comprising a composition wearing surface and having its front body portion stiffened and strengthened by a connected fibrous stiffener member carrying cured phenolic condensation cementing material, having rear portions arranged adjacent the shank portion of the shoe sole to make said shank portion relatively yielding.

9. The shoe soie comprising a vulcanized rubber composition wearing surface and having its front body portion stiffened and strengthened by. a connected fibrous stiffener member comprising fabric carrying curedv HENRY C. EGERTON. 

